By the Bohol Chronicle
An organization spearheaded by Boholanos seeking to promote reforms in the country's budget drops a bombshell uncovering billions worth of government funds hidden under a "secret fund" that is within the sole discretion of the President.
In a briefing conducted by the Center for National Budget Legislation (CNBL) last Friday at the Prawn Farm, CNBL President Joseph Ranola and Chronicle Editor Zoilo "Bingo" Dejaresco III dissected the intimidating and voluminous General Appropriations Act (GAA) to make it comprehensible by the layman.
The so-called secret fund is the Special Purpose Funds (SPF) incorporated in the yearly GAA which are "budgetary items that are non-permanent in nature, appropriated to augment obligations of line agencies, governed by special provisions and subject to the President's approval."
In the GAA, there are standard line budget items, which represent the allocations for line agencies.
In the 2008 GAA (also referred to as the national budget), the allocation for line agencies is P503 billion.
But this year's SPF totaled P562 billion which is even bigger that the budget for line agencies.
Ranola explained that due to the thick books on General Appropriations that are given to congressmen to study, they tend to concentrate on the line budget.
"Because of legislators' limited time, items under SPF are neither tackled nor extensively scrutinized during budget deliberations," he said.
Ranola likewise exposed that a big chunk of the national budget goes to the payment of interest on our country's foreign debt which has ballooned to P3.81 trillion.
SPF EXPOSED
There are 19 specific items under the SPF, Ranola disclosed, "but examining the descriptions of each item would only tell you that the budget reflected for line agencies is a deception."
A breakdown provided by CNBL showed some of the items in the SPF which includes: 1) Budget support for government corporations (P12 billion); Agricultural and Fisheries Modernization Act or AFMA (P23 billion); Allocation to local government units (P21 billion): Calamity fund (P2 billion); Contingency Fund (P800 million); Dep Ed School building program (P2 billion); E-Government Fund (1 billion); International Commitment Fund (P1.9 billion); Miscellaneous Personal Benefits Fund (P41 billion); National Unification Fund (P50 million); Priority Development Assistance Fund o commonly known as "pork barrel" (P7.8 billion); and Pension and gratuity Fund (P59.9 billion).
But the biggest item in the SPF however is the "Unprogrammed Fund" which amounted to P114.5 billion this year.
Ranola clarified further that the "Unprogrammed Fund" is a budgetary item referring to appropriations that are not yet supported by corresponding resources. These are standby appropriations which authorize additional agency expenditures for priority programs and projects in excess of the original budget.
Last year's "Unprogrammed Fund" was P61.1 billion. It jumped to P114.5 billion this year or an increase of 87 percent.
Since it is under SPF, President Arroyo has control over it because the release is subject to her approval.
"Unprogrammed Fund" is supposed to be implemented only when revenue collections exceed the resource targets assumed in the budget, or when additional foreign project loan proceeds are realized. But Ranola said even as many of the opposition lawmakers have not received their PDAF allegedly due to lack of funds, unprogrammed funds are known to have been released.
The CNBL presentation proved that billions of pesos are stolen by our government officials.
The group's call was for ordinary people to understand the budget so they could start inquiring from their congressmen on how much they know of the GAA and whether he has done something to get a share for his congressional district.
CNBL also discussed the interrelation of deficits and debts to our budget.
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